Israel Study Center
Luther, Hitler, Christianity and the Jews
Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg
28 Augus 2016 (received)
Christianity has struggled with the Jewish Question for a very long time. Only 70 something years ago a Christian nation under a deeply pagan anti-Christian leadership sought to completely eliminate the Jews from the face of the earth. And they nearly succeeded at their heinous goal. Why do Jews still exist? Why don’t most believe in the Jewish Messiah? Why are so many so successful, rich and smart in spite of their “unbelief”?
These are only some questions out of many that Christians raise about the Jews. While the Jewish European Holocaust was not caused by a de-Judaized interpretation of the Bible, I am convinced that it created the kind of ideological environment within which it was possible for it to take place.
It is legitimate to ask how it could have got to the point that Germany almost exterminated their own and other nations’ Jewish residents? One of the reasons (obviously the issue is far more complex than this) is a particular Christian anti-Jewish theology that was nurtured for centuries and in many ways was imported into the Roman version of Christianity through some anti-Jewish pre-Christian Greco-Roman authors. A major boost, however, was received through the writings of German reformer Martin Luther many centuries later. In one of his later works, when he was very upset with the German Jews for various reasons, this spiritual giant of the Protestant Christian world sadly wrote the following:
“What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? … First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn… Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed… Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb… Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews…” (About the Jews and Their Lies by Martin Luther).
There is no question that Martin Luther was a man of his time and these were rough times for everyone. His idea in the tract cited above had a noble motive. He thought that through these actions Christians would bring the Jews back to their God.
While Adolf Hitler and those close to him believed that Christianity was a bastard child of Judaism and that it needed to be destroyed too, his theologians used this text by Martin Luther to get many people and their leaders, at least on the Protestant side, to turn a blind eye and in many cases enthusiastically support the creation of the Jewish ghettos and work camps (to be fair most people in Germany did not know about death camps. It was well-documented that Nazi strategists feared that if the German people were to find out about the death camps, they would think that the regime went way too far.
Today Germany is one of the closest economic partners of Israel in Europe and many descendants of the Nazi criminals have renounced the evil deeds of their forefathers, fostering healing and reconciliation with the Jews. German Christian businessmen give generously to a variety of Israeli causes and Israeli non-profits are heavily populated by coming and going German volunteers. Our family recently hosted two German boys with us as a part of student exchange program and our son will be headed to Germany this year for a visit as well.
The shameful history of Jewish European Holocaust must not be repeated. It must be remembered, learned from, and redeemed! Most importantly Jews and Gentiles in Christ must stand together to prevent any other holocausts from happening, Jewish or otherwise.
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